Tear-off cap



All@ 7, 1951 M. M. KLINE 2,563,176

TEAR-OFF CAP Filed March 5, 1950 INVENTOR- MAGNUS M. KL INE.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 7, 1*!951 vMagnus ivf: Kling-primeur,Mdzfiassignor bf fifty Y perbent'vtoChesteriGiglibtt;Dundalk;Mdl

.A Application-Maida,

' v UZ'Claims-Lv This invention relates to closuresfrlfcontain-f ers and more Aparticularly, to` crownfcapsfandf the methods of removingl them from bottles;-

The conventional crown cap lis toowell know 1 at the present time to need further'descriptiori" and also the fact is known that it isgmadefronr a singleA piece of material without perforation r indentations of any kind exceptlthosefcrimpings' made o n the periphery of the skirt to engage under'the crown or beaded flange of a bottle and hold it tight. Thisgform of delllegraquires a specialtorol ,to lift it off. the bottlaandisvobjectionr able on that account." Crown 'capslnayegbeendea rveloped that tear olf the caps 'fromthe bottles they are employed -o'n-but are usually objectionable because they require additional materialior.; theextensions andl otheritemsthat are included and made integralvwith therm` Further-theyfdo not do. theirwork effectively.U lIn, this invention a;cr,own;. cap Vis provided Ain two' sections,onel;0f these sections includes, a,separable; discewasher; gasket or cushion in. asuitable. shell required :toY make the attachment to a bottle orifice liquid tight, while the other is a curb member mountable on the peripheral portions of the gasket disc and bottle crown beaded-flange to hold themV operably in place and arranged with a central tongue movableoutwardly and over the beaded flange of the bottle, and with ample leverage to V tear itself off, leaving the disc and its shell to be readily removed and discarded.

It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a new and improved crown cap for bottles that will avoid one or more of the disadvantages and limitations of the prior art..

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved crown cap for a bottle that can be torn off quickly and easily.

A further object ofthe invention is to provide a newA and improved crown'cap for a bottle that can open the cap circumferentially and permit the gasket disc to cover the opening of the bottle as long as desirable, but readily removable when vneeded without any appreciable effort.

An additional object is to provide a new and improved crown cap that may be readily torn off of a bottle when the latteris to be opened.k

Other objects will become apparent as the invention is more fully set forth.

For a clear understanding of the invention, its objects, principles and operation, reference is made to the appended drawings, which have their details described in the following specificalesaserial Natl/17,497 (Cl. 21S-w46) I tions/and the -claims included,1andjemphasiae .thef scope of theyinventions'. f Y Referringtothe drawings:y y Figure lisa pla'n View of acrwn cap`,'enbc' dy, 5, `ingjthis invention?" Iv l Figure 2 isf a side elevation, of FigurejLpartl in section,the tearing-voff'process beingf started Figure 3 is asectio'nal view`taken .online`3 ofgr'igure .1; v jf c j 110,@ ,.lgureY 4, is an exploded viewof ftheV cro "capaft'er ybeing Atorn open and 'removedfrb'rn al; bottler I y kFigure 5.is'j'a plan viewoff the dish-shaped? Similar referenceJ characters refer tothe isanef n parts throughout the drawings; 'In'l the drawings is shownracrown'v cap adaptedy for? .attachment and use 'on a.conventional'bevi erage bottleJI-It consists' of 11a cork .gasket-:.Vdisca I0., fastened'. and*f fset: in a'dislr.-like-1org internallyo concaveshell II. The assembly is arranged for placement on the top ledge of the neck of the bottle at the-beaded flange situated at its orice. :The ledge retains the assembly so it will not fall into the bottle and also enables the assembly to be used as a cover to protect the contents of Y the bottle, Whenresting thereon. An annular sealing ring I2 is superimposed over the shell assembly above described. and is preferably formed in its central space with an outer rim I3, into which a knock-out T-element I4 is removably impressed. The T-element has its detach-able edges rounded to prevent injury to the user when opening'the cap. 'I'he parts of the elements are arbitrarily termed the tongue I5, the lateral wings I6 and the hinge I1. The wings are semi-circular and have prongs I8 formed on 40 their edges projecting into the central space and they are preferably of semi-circular contour. The prongs I8 fit linto Asmall slots I9 arranged in the tongue I5 and register therewith .when the T-element is bent and aligned before being torn offthe bottle orifice. The ring I2 has a peripheral skirt 20 of conventional form extended down from the rim I5 and corrugated or crimped to 'hold on to the beaded flange of the bottle closed by its crown cap. Creasesare impressed where desirable kin the cap to facilitate the bending of the T-element in the manner to be described herein.. p n The crown cap is placed over the bottle orifice in a conventional manner. Its removal is at- 3 tained by forcibly lifting the tongue I5 of the T-element I4 and bending it to the position indicated in Figure 2. In this position the prongs I8 become inserted into the slots I9 and prevent the wings I6 from spreading apart when the tongue I5 is rotated on its hinge I'I down over and across the skirt 20. The wings I6 form fulcrums on whichtheftongue |51 exerts x-leverage; and travels.g At its travels on therounded edges', of the wings I6 the tongue tears through the ring into the resulting form shown in Figure 4.

This ring I2 is then discarded leaving the gasket 1 shell I I and gasket I0 at the top ofthe bottle.

of the bottle are to be poured out.

It will be noted that the aforesaid structure provides the following features for theudevice:

andthusmaintains yits 'sanitaryrcondition as longV as desirable. 'I he tearing oiproces'sppens up they ring instead of 'lifting' it.' Lifting'of a crown cap? inJ a conve'ntional"-way places'lthe 'hands' and tools over the 'orifice of the bottle, during the process of -opening it, `while tearing carries the iingers' ofthe'operatorja'tvay from the orifice lso that when the 'capis' opened up the hands are not over the open bottleand in the way ofits contents, ifit should erupt. The crcwncap cannotwbereusedlikle the `common lform general use because itis drastically 'mtiiatca It is attrigictivev and. interesting, Bottles and containers are considered sirnilarm v m. .While but one generalform of the invention is .shown in the .drawing and described in the specifications,` itis not desiredto limit this application-for patenttothis particularform, as it' skirt along the hinge and opens up the sealing mg a tearing-Off element comprising a tongue portion, a pair of arcuate wings on each side of rdf The latter is removed readily when the contents,

the tongue portion, and a hinge in the area of tearing of theskirt, said tongue portion having slc'itskth'erein and said arcuate wings having integral prongs, whereby, when the tongue portion is raised away from the ring, the wings are also raisedaway from the ring and the prongs are fitted irl-said slots, saidfwings forming circular fulcra to facilitate the tearing oil? of the skirt and complete'severance of the hinge from the ring by continued backward pulling of the tongue, while' said inner shell and gasketassembly remain on the neck of the bottle.

A cap as set forth in claim 1, in which the' tearing-01T element has a T-form and is secured' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

- UNITED STATES PAI'ENTS 1,5113 ipv Harvey et al.. Dec. 3l, 1943 L.. f' i' pair; 

